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Catholic Union comments on condom story

November 25th, 2010

Dear all,

“Light of the World”: The Pope, condoms and media inaccuracy

Regrettably, the media seems to be up to their old tricks and this time L'Osservatore Romano seems to be among them, even going so far as to break the embargo and publish mistranslated extracts on 20 November, three days before the book, Light of the World, was due out, thereby virtually ensuring that a misrepresentation of the Pope's words was what hit the world's headlines.

The media are reporting that the Pope said this in his interview with Peter Seewald, in the book Licht der Welt, "Light of the World":

"It may be justified in individual cases, as when a (male) prostitute uses a condom, where this is a first step towards morality"

However, he, the Pope never uses the word "begründete" or "giustificato" or "justified", neither does he say that "individual cases" of condom use may be justified. Yet this appears in L'OR and even, some say, the Italian translation of the book.

Sandro Magister gives extracts from the book and includes the original German of the controversial passage but then he goes on to mistranslate it himself. See here:

"Concentrating only on the condom means trivializing sexuality, and this trivialization represents precisely the dangerous reason why so many people no longer see sexuality as an expression of their love, but only as a sort of drug, which one administers on one's own. This is why the struggle against the trivialization of sexuality is also part of the great effort so that sexuality may be valued positively, and may exercise its positive effect on the human being in his totality. There can be individual cases that are justified, for example when a [male] prostitute [ein Prostituierter] uses a condom, and this can be the first step toward a moral sensitization, a first act of responsibility to develop once again the understanding of the fact that not everything is permitted, and that one cannot do whatever one wishes. Nonetheless, this is not the real and proper way to overcome HIV infection. What is truly needed is a humanization of sexuality."

"This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man's being.

There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality."

The extract actually translates thus:

"I would say, if a (male) prostitute uses a condom, that can be the first act towards a moralisation, a first step to responsibility, toward developing a consciousness that not everything is permitted and that one cannot simply do what one wants, when one wants it. But this does not get to the root of the evil. That must really lie in humanising sexuality."

Thus, it appears that the Pope never actually said what is attributed to him by L'Osservatore Romano and other media.

Unless someone can show that any of the above is wrong, please ensure that this correction is passed far and wide.

Moreover, Magister seriously misrepresents Catholic teaching on the condom use in his article when he writes:

"...Benedict XVI justifies the use of a condom by a prostitute (in the masculine form in the original German of the book: "ein Prostituierter"). A use that Catholic moral doctrine already acknowledges – on a par with recourse to condoms by spouses when one of them is infected with HIV – but is publicly approved of by a pope for the first time here".

This is simply misreporting and a journalist of Magister's seniority ought to know better.

Best wishes,

James BogleChairmanThe Catholic Union of Great Britain.

Note from editor: This week we have been indundated with news stories and letters on this subject. Please visit the News and Letters pages on ICN if you wish to read them all.